Best Buy Software Installer Makes Early, Annoying Appearance

Although it’s not scheduled to make its debut until this Sunday, Best Buy’s new non-optimization tool, the Best Buy Software Installer, has made at least one preview appearance — on a review unit supplied to a computer journalist, who wasn’t exactly thrilled with the software’s attempt to “radically simplify how you set up and customize your new PC.”

In a generally positive review of the Toshiba Satellite T135D-S1324, a laptop that will be available only at Best Buy, Computer Shopper magazine singled out BBSI as an unwelcome interruption to the computer’s setup process:

One annoyance we found was the Best Buy Software Installer that appeared at the end of the initial setup for the included Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) OS; it pitched extra-cost software and took three clicks to move past, since it pops up a bothersome “Are you sure?” message when you say “No thanks.”

Oh, and in case you were counting on BBSI to limit crapware to just the titles you choose, you may be disappointed to learn that, according to Toshiba’s web site, this model comes with trials of Norton Internet Security and Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition, and full versions of Microsoft Office Live Essentials, the Google Toolbar, and Microsoft Works. Want to remove any of this stuff? We assume that Best Buy’s “repositioned” optimization service may be able to help with that (for a price, of course).